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Buffett: Owns 33% of Berkshire Class A,10% of Class B Shares

By Lavonne Kuykendall, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- Warren Buffett owns 350,000 shares, or 33%, of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s (BRKA BRKB) class A and 1.5 million shares, or 10%, of class B common stock, he said Tuesday.

The shares represent 31.6% of the aggregate voting power of Berkshire's shares and 25.78% of the economic interest of the shares, he said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday.

The disclosure was part of the company's agreement to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI) in a cash and stock deal.

The deal values the railroad at $34 billion, plus $10 billion in debt, and offers shareholders the option of trading their Burlington shares in for shares of Berkshire Hathaway. The deal, structured with 60% in cash and 40% in Berkshire Hathaway stock, is Buffett's biggest deal ever, and the first in more than 10 years to include stock.

Buffett's stock holdings disclosure was included in a letter Buffett sent to Burlington Northern's chief executive confirming that he would vote his shares in favor of Berkshire's stock split and for the adoption of the Berkshire equity plan in the company's merger agreement.

-By Lavonne Kuykendall, Dow Jones Newswires; (312) 750 4141; lavonne.kuykendall@dowjones.com

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  11-03-091834ET
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